A New Life
by VladMorgendorffer
Summary: The TARDIS always makes sure the Doctor goes where he's needed. What does it mean when she takes him to Rose? Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth, had a new life. But sometimes a new life isn't better than the old one.
1. Chapter 1

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

Rose was barely holding herself together. It was just so hard. She was broken, both on the inside and out. The only thing she wanted to do was talk to her mum, but her mum was long gone. That only made the holidays harder. This time of year was meant for family and friends. Rose still had Tony and his kids and their kids, but it wasn't the same. She didn't belong here. In fact, she never belonged here. She belonged with the Doctor.

The Doctor…

The Doctor loves Christmas…

This is when Rose finally broke down.

* * *

The TARDIS was going crazy. She was flashing every single light and alarm while she was shaking violently. This could have been considered normal if the Doctor was driving, but the console room was empty.

Amy and Rory reached the room first. It took all their willpower to hang on for their lives.

"We have to do something," Rory screamed over the noise.

"Do what?" Amy screamed back. "We don't know what to do."

"Now is the time to learn."

Meanwhile…

The Doctor was in his room staring at the ceiling when the TARDIS began to pilot herself. He ran to the door and found it locked.

The TARDIS locked him in.

"What are you doing?" he gently asks the walls. "Let me out!" The TARDIS's reply was given in the form of even more shaking. "I thought you were on my side," The Doctor mumbled and he began to pace and think.

What would make the TARDIS pilot herself? It was a Sunday. Nothing good ever happens on a Sunday. The Doctor did not know where or when they were going, but he knew it was going to be bad.

* * *

The TARDIS finally landed.

"See Amy," says Rory with a grin, "I told you we could do something."

"Either that or the TARDIS flew herself," Amy comments. She smiles at her husband. "But you did a great job, Mr. Pond."

The Doctor makes his way into the console room and was muttering to himself. "You locked me inside my room. Why? Where are we? What didn't you want me to know?" His companions stare at him as he walks to the console and checks various screens.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asks.

"That's a good question, Pond. Where are we?" The Doctor straightens his bowtie and before walking towards the door. "There is only one way to find out."

The three friends walk outside to find a grassy field on a nice summer day. There are a few trees scattered about and a nice little creek flowing nearby. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was out. A large building can be seen in the distance.

The Doctor begins to stick out his tongue.

"I hate it when he does that," Rory whines. Amy laughs softly. The Doctor is oblivious, like usual.

"It tastes like Earth, but it doesn't _feel_ like Earth." Without warning, the Doctor lies down and puts his ear to the ground. "It sounds like Earth." He stands up again and paces. "I don't like this. It's… too weird. We should go."

"Nonsense, Doctor!" Amy exclaims. "The TARDIS brought us here for a reason. Someone needs us."

"But who or what needs us?"

Rory and the Doctor begin to theorize the situation as Amy starts to walk towards the building. She continues walking as she shouts over her shoulder, "Are you coming or what?"

* * *

A while later the friends reach the building which was a giant white mansion. Loud music could be heard from outside and people were running in and out. A group of children were playing some sort of tag in the front yard. Naturally, the Doctor investigates.

"Can I play?" he asks. Amy and Rory give him a concerned stare.

"Really, Doctor?" Amy asks.

"I love games!" With an eager look on his face the Doctor asks the children again, "Can I play?"

The kids shrug and some answer with "yes," "sure," and "okay".

"Yes! What are we playing?"

A small ginger child replies with, "We're playing freeze tag. When you're tagged you have to freeze until someone else tags you."

"I love freeze tag. I like you. You're ginger. I've always wanted to be ginger."

The kids look at him like he's crazy as Amy puts her head in her hands and Rory laughs.

One kid shouts, "I'm it!" and the game begins. It doesn't take long before the Doctor gets tagged.

"Oi! That wasn't fair!" he whines. "Blimey these kids are fast."

The Ponds laugh at the Doctor. The game continues and the Doctor gets unfrozen and then refrozen and then unfrozen again. Finally, the game ends when the kid that was it froze the last person.

"That was fun! Now," the Doctor began, "can one of you tell me where we are?"

The kids looked around at each other. The ginger kid was only one to speak. "We're at the Tyler mansion."

The Doctor's face softens as he remembers the past. Quickly, he snaps out of it. "Why are we here?"

"It's Christmas. Every year there's a party."

"Christmas? I love Christmas!" He smiles again. "What year is it?"

"2075."

"Perfect. Now, one last question: Where are we?"

"You already asked that."

"Yes, I know, but where are we? What city? What country?"

"We're on the outskirts of London, England."

"London at Christmas, that's original."

The children go back to playing as the Doctor walks over to Amy and Rory.

"Nice investigation skills you've got there," teases Amy.

"Don't knock it, Pond," the Doctor replies. "It always helps to be a part of the group."

* * *

They walked around Tyler mansion before entering it. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary, just a lot of cars and a rather large garden of Roses. Roses… Rose. The Doctor missed Rose.

He's been missing her for a while, well, ever since he left her with his clone in the parallel universe. She's always been a part of him; a part of his life. But lately, he's been missing her more and more. The Doctor often found himself lonely, which made no sense since he had Amy and Rory and even River on occasion.

Every time he allowed himself to sleep the Doctor dreamed of Rose. One time he dreamed of the first time they met. The first time he told her to run. Another time he dreamed of the two of them on Gallifrey enjoying a fun filled day of adventure. His favorite dream was probably the one where the two of them watched the Lion King. He always knew Rose wasn't exactly fond of that movie, but she always insisted on watching it. She did it for him. She did it because it made him happy.

His dreams often turned into nightmares.

Either Rose would die in his arms, or Rose would run off with some random bloke, or Jack. Sometimes she would just cry and it would break his hearts. The worst though was the one that happens the most: The one where he left her with his clone on Bad Wolf Bay.

The Doctor thought about all of this and his hearts just ached. All he could do was stare at the beautiful roses. Tears were forming in his eyes, but he refused to cry. He reaches out and touches the delicate petals.

Amy and Rory swear they heard him say, "Rose, my beautiful, fantastic, wonderful Rose."

* * *

Rose Tyler wasn't at the party. Instead she sat in the library hiding from all the people. Once upon a time, Rose loved Christmas. But that was many, many years ago.

She was a different Rose Tyler then.

Rose sat in the library for ages. All she did was sit there and think.

She thought of her mum and all the wonderful things they did together. Then she thought of her friends and the rest of her family. Finally, she let herself think of her Doctor. All her memories came flooding back to her in one painful moment.

She let herself cry.

* * *

Amy suggested they investigate the mansion and the Doctor finds himself agreeing, even though he really wanted to dance. He never wanted to dance before, it must be regeneration. The only time he ever really wanted to dance was when he was with Rose. Her eyes would light up and her smile just made him go crazy. He would give anything to see that smile just one more time.

Rory and Amy saw the change in the Doctor. His eyes lit up and he smiled a soft, sad smile. The couple looked at each other in confusion, but let the Doctor have his moment. It seemed like such a nice little private moment that they just couldn't interrupt.

"Right!" the Doctor exclaims. "Time to investigate! Come along, Ponds."

The trio checks everything on the ground floor, which was difficult yet easy because of the party. It was hard to navigate through all the people, but it was easy because no one really cared.

"We should go upstairs," Amy comments calmly. Rory agrees, but the Doctor gives on wistful look to all the people dancing. Amy just laughs. "You can dance later." The Doctor grins and they go up the stairs.

They checked most of the rooms upstairs and found nothing out of the ordinary.

"We've checked almost everything," the Doctor whines. "Can we please go join the party? It's a shame to waste a good party."

With a roll of her eyes, Amy says, "Just one more room." She points to the door to her left. "It's the only room we haven't checked."

"One more room, then we party, then we leave. Okay?"

"Agreed," Amy and Rory say in sync, which leads to a round of laughter.

The Doctor opens the door and the three enter. They find themselves in a cozy library. The sound of someone's soft crying could be heard. With his eyebrows raised, the Doctor goes towards the sound.

He wasn't ready for what he saw.

His eyes went wide as his companions went forward to look at what was wrong.

All they saw was a pretty blonde woman crying.

The Doctor fell to his knees and asks, "Rose?"

* * *

A/N I just want to apologize now… I'm sadly not British. I'm probably going to say something wrong. If I do, which I will, I'm sorry. Just let me know and I'll fix it. You guys are the best!


	2. Chapter 2

*Standard Disclaimer applies*

* * *

Rose was looking at the Doctor. She had never seen this version of him before, but his eyes gave him away. They were green now, but they were the same sad eyes that had seen so much. Rose puts her left hand on his face and the Doctor covers her hand with his. He grins at her and she grins back. She whispers the one word the Doctor wanted her to say. She whispers, "Doctor."

Before anyone could even blink, the Doctor and Rose were both standing and in each other's arms.

"Rose, my beautiful, fantastic, wonderful Rose!" exclaims the Doctor. He pulls back a little so he can see her face but he doesn't let go of her. "Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth, I-"

Rose pulls his head to hers and snogs him.

* * *

Rory and Amy were watching everything from the doorway.

"Snogging?" Rory asks quietly, "The Doctor is actually snogging!"

Amy laughs softly at her husband. "It does seem like he's enjoying it."

"I didn't even know he knew how to snog someone."

"He's over a thousand years old. Did you actually believe in that time he's never snogged someone?"

Rory shrugs. "He's the Doctor. I never know what to think."

* * *

Rose and the Doctor finally broke apart to breathe. The Doctor pushes some stray hair behind her ear. They just stand there, staring into each other's eyes, having a beautiful moment.

"You've been crying. Why?" he finally asks.

Rose completely ignores his observation and instead says, "You've changed your face again. What happened?"

The Doctor frowns. What if she didn't like it? His last body had been made for her. That was the body she fell in love with. What if she didn't want to-

She knew exactly what he was thinking. "I love you. I don't care what you look like or what you wear. I'll love this version of you as much as I loved the last one and the one before that. Besides," she grins, "if I could love big ears I can love anything."

"Oi!" The Doctor exclaims trying to sound hurt, but fails. "You always know what to say." He grins and kisses her forehead.

"You might have changed your face, but you're still the same. You're still rude; rude and not ginger." The Doctor gives off a cute confused look as Rose walks over to Amy and Rory who are still standing in the doorway. "He can be so daft sometimes." She looks back to the Doctor who is rolling his eyes. Looking back to the companions, Rose continues. "I'm Rose Tyler."

Amy grins and Rory laughs as they go through their introductions.

"I'm sorry you guys had to see that," Rose says as she blushes.

"I'm not!" the Doctor exclaims. "It's payback for everything I've had to witness. I should really make a new rule for the TARDIS." With a glance at a laughing Rose he adds, "Then again, maybe not." Rose blushes again. The Doctor loves making her blush. He loved everything about her; he always had and always will.

* * *

The four of them were sitting down in the library talking. Amy and Rory were sitting on one couch and Rose and the Doctor where on the other. The companions were talking about the Doctor while the Doctor was studying Rose. She was his Rose but something was different and he didn't like it. He didn't like not knowing what was wrong. Something still felt off about this place and that's when he remembered.

Interrupting Rory the Doctor asked, "Where are we?" Three pairs of eyes turned to look at him. The Ponds were once again questioning his sanity, but something in Rose's head clicked.

"How," she begins, "are you here? How did you get here?"

Before the Doctor could say anything Amy says, "We came in the TARDIS." Rose frowns and looks at the Doctor who is lost in thought. "Is that a bad thing?"

Rose sighs. "I live in a parallel universe." Rory nods and Amy just frowns in confusion.

"Amy, think of it like photo editing," Rory explains. "Someone takes a picture of you and that is the real photo. They can go and edit the picture so you have different versions. One can be black and white, another could have a blurred background, and another one could have a hue change. Parallel universes are like that, too. They have the original universe and then they can have multiple ones based on the original, but the universe will be slightly different."

Amy grins at her husband. "You're pretty sexy when you're explaining things." Rory smiles and shrugs. The Doctor stands and walks to the window.

Rose laughs at the married couple and then sighs at the Doctor. She likes Rory and Amy, but she knew all of their playful banter and flirting bothered the Doctor. He liked humans for their company and comfort, but he certainly never expected to get involved romantically with anything, let alone a human. Rose changed the Doctor by getting into his hearts deeper than anyone ever could and by doing so she brought him so much pain and sorrow. It was her fault for letting them fall in love, for letting them get very close and personal, and most of all, for not making him take her with him at Bad Wolf Bay. She suspects the only reason he let these people on his ship was to make him feel less lonely by living vicariously through them and the result only brought him pain. Tears begin to form in her eyes and she refuses to cry. "You really know things Rory. I'm impressed." She smiles at the man who smiles back.

"Internet," he answers sheepishly.

"Travel between the parallel universes should be impossible, but every once in a while a hole forms and the linings between the universes collapse. This allows inter-universe travel which is extremely dangerous. That's kind of how I ended up here." Her eyes flash to the Doctor who is still staring out the window. "If you three got here with the TARDIS then something bad is happening." She walks over to a giant television and turns on the news in hopes of something that could be alien was happening. Her hopes were crushed. "Torchwood, might know something." She got out her mobile and started to dial but was quickly stopped by the Doctor.

"Torchwood, Rose?" he says angrily. "Is it wise to get them involved?"

"You know as well as I do that Torchwood here is different here. I've worked with them for years. They're perfectly safe."

"Years? What do you mean, 'years'?" He looked at her closely, trying to figure it out. Rose didn't say anything and just stared right back at him. "Rose, where's my clone?"

Rose pales and the Doctor is oblivious. "Why do you want John?"

"John? Why would he call himself John?"

"Well he couldn't go around calling himself The Doctor's Clone."

"But why John? He could pick any name in all of space and time and he chose John?"

"Why did you pick John?"

"Why did I- Oh. Right. He's… me. Well, sort of. He would have chosen John." He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with that, but now wasn't the time to address that. "Where is John?"

The Doctor starts to pace around the room, lost in thought. Amy and Rory were staring at Rose who was trying to pull herself together. She didn't enjoy thinking about John for many, many reasons. She didn't even realize she still felt sick at just the thought of him. The Doctor continued to pace while Amy went over to Rose and quietly asks if she's okay. Rose just shakes her head and exits the room.

A few seconds later Rose comes back. Only this Rose was wearing a different outfit and her eyes weren't red from crying. Before Amy and Rory could even ask a question, Rose spoke. "You should leave. You need to get them out alive." Everyone looks at her and she locks eyes with the Doctor. "You need to get yourself out alive. You've got such a pretty face, wouldn't want to lose it so quickly."

"Rose," he murmurs. "Do you really think I could lose you again?" He was waiting for her to break his hearts again.

Instead, Rose snogs him. "Do you really think I could lose you again?" His eyes were burning into hers. "Do you really think the world can lose you again? You are worth much more than me. Do time and space a favor and save yourself and them." Rose turns to Amy and Rory and says, "Both of you are important. You both need to leave. For the sake of everything get out now and get out alive."

The Doctor stands there confused and shocked. Amy took the chance to ask, "Who are you?"

With one word Rose changed everything.

"Spoilers."

* * *

_A/N: I'm not sure if I'm exactly happy with this chapter, but for the sake of posting something, I'm posting it. Things will get better, especially when I've got more time to focus on it. Just hang in there. You guys are the best! _


	3. Chapter 3

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

Rose Tyler quite literally ran into herself in the hallway. The only thing on her mind was running away from her feelings so she wasn't paying attention. The future version of Rose, however, knew it was going to happen so she made sure she didn't touch her past self.

"Rose," the future Rose says, "I know exactly what is going on inside your head, but it is very important you pay attention right now." The present form of Rose blinks in surprise but nods. "Something very bad is going to happen. I need you to evacuate the entire building. You've got five minutes. Make sure everyone is out and everyone goes home. Do you understand?" Present Rose nods again. "After five minutes I need you to get yourself out. Go to the creek. I will come find you."

Future Rose takes one last moment to look at her past self before going to the library. Present Rose takes a moment to push her feelings deep down and to clear her head. With a deep breath she goes off to clear the building.

* * *

Amy, Rory and the Doctor barely reached the TARDIS when the explosion happened. One minute it was there and then the next Tyler Mansion was in flames.

With a wistful look at the mansion then to his companions, the Doctor starts to talk. "You should get in the TARDIS."

"What about Rose?" asks Rory.

"You can't leave her," Amy points out. "You need her."

"No one is leaving anyone," Rose's voice says. Her body appears a moment later.

Amy's eyes grow a few sizes. "How did you do that?"

Rose points to the device on her arm. "Vortex Manipulator."

"Can I have one?"

"No," the Doctor replies. "Time travel without a capsule is dangerous. Rose, where did you get one of those?"

"I won it off Jack in a strip poker game on the TARDIS a while back."

"You were playing strip poker on the TARDIS?" Amy asks. "The Doctor let you?"

"It was the Doctor's idea. Though, he didn't think Jack would organize a game on the TARDIS, or that I would join in. He got kind of jealous at the thought of it, so he joined in the game. To make a long story short, Jack and the Doctor were going back and forth trying to outdo each other while I sat there fully clothed enjoying the show. I took the Vortex Manipulator when no one was looking."

Amy giggles at the thought while the Doctor frowns. Ignoring the giggling, the Doctor states, "I always break Jack's manipulator. How does he always get them working?"

"I don't know," Rose answers. "Maybe he fixes them?"

"I break them with the sonic. They should be destroyed. And since when does Jack come back?"

"Spoilers."

"Rose, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to you. I need you to take it easy with me."

"Of course I will take it easy with you."

"I know you mean to, but I'm here to ask you to remind yourself. There are a lot of things you don't understand right now. You'll find out everything in time, and you're not going to be happy about any of it, but you need to keep your anger in check. I know it is going to be hard and you're going to be upset, but please, please, just breathe and let it go."

* * *

Rose Tyler was waiting by the creek. She didn't know how she should feel. The last 60 years of her life have been horrible and she finally had a ray of light. The Doctor was finally back and she could leave and have the life she always wanted. Things were finally looking up for Rose.

* * *

The future Rose told the Doctor where to look for the present Rose. After telling his companions to wait in the TARDIS, the Doctor set off to get his Rose back.

The Doctor still can't believe he is going to get his Rose back. If someone would have told him yesterday he would have seen Rose again, he would have called them crazy. But here he is, on his way to get her and take her back to the TARDIS. The best of all is that Rose wanted to go with him. After all this time, Rose still wanted him.

The thought made him smile.

He was following the creek and finally found the spot Rose described. No one was there.

Where is she?

The Doctor looked around and didn't find anything. There were no sign of Rose anywhere.

The future Rose appears out of thin air. "I should have been here by now," she says. "Something must have gone wrong."

"Could you have been in the explosion?" he asks.

"No. I would have faded away by now." Future Rose begins to pace. "Your mobile. Give me your mobile."

"I don't have a mobile."

"Get one!"

"Why do I need one?"

"So I can get ahold of you when you wander off."

"When I wander off? You're the one who always wandered off."

"That isn't how I recall it." The Doctor gives her a grin and she grins right back. "We don't have time for this. I need a phone."

"Why don't you use your mobile?"

"Jack stole mine." The Doctor gives Rose a look. "Why do you hate Jack?"

"I don't hate Jack."

It was Rose's turn to give the Doctor a look. "Yes, you do. You've never liked him. Why?"

"You wouldn't understand if I told you."

"You can always tell me anything. You used to tell me everything."

The Doctor takes a deep breath. "I always thought that maybe one day you would run away with Jack and never come back."

Rose couldn't contain her laughter. "Me and Jack? Doctor!"

"What?"

"Are you that blind?"

"What?"

Rose sighs. "Doctor, I used to be and I still am hopelessly in love with you. I always have been and I always will be. No one, not Jack or anyone else will ever change that." She leans forward and snogs him.

The Doctor grins. "I know. I just like hearing you say it." He takes her hand with his. "Now why do you need a phone?"

"I was going to call present Rose's mobile. It was kind of a long shot, but we're kind of out of options."

"We're never out of options."


	4. Chapter 4

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

The present Rose Tyler feels a stabbing pain running through her entire body. She opens her eyes and finds herself surrounded by pure darkness. Where was she?

A familiar voice rings out, sending chills down Rose's spine. "Two lovers reunited. How sweet. Two lovers torn apart, again. How tragic."

"John," she whispers as fear spreads through her core.

"Yes dear?" Rose could feel his hands pressed against her body. She tries to escape his hands, but fails. "You know you like it, Rose," he snarls. "It's always been your precious Doctor. I was never good enough for you." The clone moves his hands under her clothes. Rose starts to scream but he quickly covers her mouth with a hand. "This is going to hurt."

* * *

The Doctor wanted to use the sonic screwdriver to search for any sign of Rose. Unfortunately, he couldn't because of future Rose. He was pacing when he heard the scream. Future Rose looked in his direction before the two of them ran towards the noise.

* * *

Amy and Rory were left in the TARDIS.

"Who would have thought," Rory says, "that the Doctor had… a relationship?"

Amy laughs. "Rory, everyone deserves love, even the Doctor."

"I know. It's just weird, that's all. Has he ever mentioned Rose before today?"

"No. But everything makes much more sense now." Rory gives his wife a confused glance. "I was looking for the Doctor one day and I accidently walked into his room-"

"You were in his room?"

Amy rolls her eyes. "It really was an accident. Anyway, I saw something-"

"Amy!"

"Oi, shut up, Stupid Face!"

"Sorry," he mumbles unhappily.

"Anyway, I didn't find the Doctor. But, I did find something else. His room is so… Doctor-like… except, there are roses. Lots and lots of roses. I went back in there a few weeks later and-"

"Amy, you can't just go into his room!"

Amy glances at Rory. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

He takes a deep breath, trying to figure out if he wanted to know. "Yes," he finally replies.

"All of the roses were still alive. At the time I couldn't figure out why he would want that many flowers, let alone some that never die, but everything makes sense now. He got them to remember her."

"I wonder why he wanted to torture himself."

"What?"

Rory thought about his next words carefully. "When I was guarding you I thought about you all the time. Anything I saw reminded me of you. It was painful, but it helped me carry on because I knew I would see you again. The Doctor was keeping these as a reminder of her even though he knew he would never see her again."

Amy frowns. "Poor guy."

Rory frowns, too. "I got lost inside the TARDIS once and I saw the Doctor come out of a door. I opened it, thinking it would help me. I think it was Rose's bedroom."

"He kept her bedroom?"

"I'm not sure, but I think so."

The doors to the TARDIS fling open, scaring the two humans. They look at the doors, expecting the Doctor to walk in or some kind of monster ready to kill them. Instead, they found Rose crawling into the control room, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

* * *

The Doctor was becoming frustrated. There was no sign of Rose whatsoever. She was just gone. Future Rose was trying to calm him down. Her efforts were useless. The two of them followed the scream and found nothing.

Rose didn't know what was going on. It was upsetting, especially since this was happening to her. All she remembered was waiting for the Doctor. Then everything went blank. Time was rewriting itself and she was scared. One thing could go wrong and she could lose the Doctor forever. Not only was Rose in danger, but so was their future. She was scared and there was nothing she could do to fix it.

"Rose?" the Doctor asks. Rose blinks a few times before looking at him. "Are you alright? You're looking pale."

She replies, "I'm fine," but he doesn't buy it. All he does is look at her.

Rose suddenly remembers. Her body shivers in terror as she thinks back in her memory.

The Doctor moves towards her. "Rose?" Concern spreads across his face. "Rose?"

Rose was starting to mumble something. All the Doctor could pick out was the word John. Did she want John? Did she want him more than she wanted-

She snaps out of it. "Doctor?" He looks at her, relived to see her normal again. "We've got to kill John."

* * *

Rory and Amy got Rose into the med bay. Amy wasn't much help when it came to this kind of stuff and was thankful for the millionth time that Rory was a nurse. Rory was in his element when it came to this, but most of the medical supplies in the room were too advanced for him. He was scrambling around trying to find anything from the 21st century or anything that looked similar to what he knew how to use. Amy made herself useful in this time by talking to Rose and holding her hand. For the most part Rose was unresponsive, but she didn't care. She had to do something to help this poor, bloodied girl.

* * *

Rose Tyler knew she was in good hands. Any hands were better than John's.

She was in a lot of pain and all she wanted to do was sleep. Her eyes started to drift closed but a voice told her to keep them open. That voice. She's only known that voice for a few hours but she'd know it anywhere. She opens her eyes only to find his green ones staring at her.

* * *

_A/N I felt really bad for not involving the Ponds much, so I made it a point to add more of them. Let me know what you think. You guys are the best!_


	5. Chapter 5: MEGACHAPTER

_A/N For those of you who enjoy holidays, happy Easter. For those of you like me, who don't care for holidays happy just-another-day. This chapter is a megachapter! That means it is the length of about 2-3 chapters. I did this because a) series 7b came out yesterday [in some places] and b) this is the chapter where everything is explained and it needed to be long. Sorry for any inconveniences this caused you. I guess, without further ado, chapter five. Enjoy. -Morgendorffer_

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

The Doctor was waiting for his Rose. Since she walked out the TARDIS door to go visit a past version of himself he had recalibrated the TARDIS, ran a few miles, found where Rose hid his fez, took a tea break, ate some Jammie Dodgers and reread the _Complete Works of Shakespeare_.

Shakespeare, what a brilliant bloke. Bit of a flirt and he was completely rude and not ginger, but brilliant nonetheless.

The Doctor takes a look at his watch and sighs. "Three hours. It's only been three hours." Behind him, the TARDIS hums warmly. "What am I supposed to do now? I've done everything!" An angry hum came for the TARDIS. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it as an insult to you, Sexy." She gave him another warm and cheerful hum. "What to do? What to do?"

* * *

An hour later he found himself knitting in the library. What would anyone do if they saw him being so… domestic? He'd never live it down. And he didn't care. Some domestic things weren't so bad. Especially when those things involved Rose. Besides, it wasn't like he was getting a mortgage or anything like that. He liked knitting for many reasons. It was oddly relaxing. It also gave him lots of time to think and reflect.

Today was the day he finally got his Rose back. Sixty years later and she still wanted to be with him. The thought still made the Doctor grin. Rose, his beautiful, wonderful, fantastic Rose. She was so… so sad and broken when he found her. Just thinking about it breaks his hearts. She was so strong to have to handle all that on her own. Just thinking about what hap-

His memory went blank.

Time was rewriting itself.

Oh, this wasn't good.

The Doctor continues to knit but isn't really paying it any attention. It takes a few minutes, but he finally gets the new memories. A millisecond later he was running out the TARDIS door.

* * *

Rory and Amy were doing the best they could do under the circumstances. Amy was trying to keep Rose awake and Rory was trying to find anything that looked vaguely familiar. He finds a bottle of aspirin on a shelf and walks back over to Rose.

The door flies open and the Doctor walks in.

"Rory are you trying to kill her?" he asks.

A confused Rory looks up at the Doctor. "What?"

The Doctor points to the bottle in his hand. "That. That will kill her. Go put it back." Rory looks at Rose for a moment before doing what the Doctor asks. "And while you're at it, go into that cupboard over there and get the box."

"Which box?"

"You'll know it when you see it." Rory goes off and the Doctor walks over to Rose. His poor, poor Rose. He places his hand on her cheek and gently caresses it.

Amy watches him closely. Something was different about this Doctor. And that is when she notices the ring. This Doctor was wearing a wedding ring on his finger.

Rory returns carrying a box. The front was labeled with weird circles. They looked like the same type of weird circles that were on the console. Whatever was in this box wasn't meant for humans.

The Doctor takes the lid off the box and rummages through it a bit before he goes back over to Rose who is falling asleep. "Rose," he says softly. "Rose, open your eyes." Her eyes flicker open and he frowns. He pushes the hair out of her eyes. Seeing her like this was absolute torture. All he wanted to do was go and kill John all over again. But he knew he had to be here and he had to be strong for her. "Rose Tyler, I love you." He gives her a soft smile. "And you're going to be just fine. You need to stay awake, though. Can you do that for me?" She gives a small nod and the Doctor bends down to kiss her forehead. "Amy, you are in charge of keeping her awake. Tell her a story or something. Just not the one about the time you were a famous model."

"And why not?"

"It's boring."

"Fine." Amy gave smirked at him before looking down at Rose. "I'll tell you about the time the Doctor lost his trousers in a bet to Winston Churchill." Rose starts to smile a bit.

"Amy!" he whines. "Not that one."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing!"

"I don't care."

"Fine!" Amy gives him one final grin before turning back to Rose and she starts to tell her story.

The Doctor shakes his head as he makes his way towards Rory. He goes back into the box and hands him a stethoscope. "Listen to her heartbeat. Try to find any irregularities." Rory does what was asked. The Doctor starts to run some tests on Rose with the sonicscrewdriver.

"Uh, Doctor?" Rory asks.

"What?"

"She has two hearts."

"Yeah. I know." Rory gives him a confused glare. "Oh! Right! You didn't know. Rory, Rose has two hearts. I probably should have mentioned that."

"How did you know?"

"I am from your future."

"Right. I probably should have guessed. Where are you now, then? I mean, the present you."

The Doctor's eyes grew cold. "I am out with my Rose, future Rose to you, hunting down- I'll explain it to you later."

* * *

Rose was bandaged and sleeping soundly within the hour. Physically she was going to be fine. Mentally… mentally was a different matter. She had a long road ahead of her.

He glances at Rose one last time before walking to the door. The Ponds follow him into the hallway.

The Doctor really needed a few moments alone. He was emotionally spent and he just needed a moment to breathe, especially if he was going to give his friends the talk. Like always, he puts on his grin and put his mental shields back up. "You guys must have a lot of questions."

"You bet we do," Amy says.

"Amy," Rory warns. She gives him a glance and he backs off.

"I know I've never told you guys about Rose and I'm sorry. I'll tell you two everything. Go wait for me in the library. I'll be right there."

Rory nods and then starts to walk off. Amy stays and stares at the Doctor, making him a bit uncomfortable. Amy bends down and picks up two forgotten metal objects from the floor. "Doctor, why," she holds up the knitting needles, "are these in the hall?"

The Doctor pats his jacket and blushes. "Give me those." He reaches for them, but Amy holds them out of reach. "Amelia Pond, give them to me." She hands them to him and walks away. The hallway echoes with her laughter.

* * *

"Amy," Rory says seriously, "can you please, just go easy on him?"

"Easy on him? Why on earth would I do that?"

"He's just… not himself right now."

"Rory."

"Amy."

She sighs. "You're right. You're absolutely right. It's just hard to stop cracking jokes. He is such an easy target."

Rory relaxes a bit and laughs. He knows how hard it is for the Doctor. He's waited years for his love and then this happens. Even the future version of him is upset and he knows how it ends. Imagine if that happened with Amy-

"They're married," Amy states. "In the future, Rose and the Doctor are married."

"How do you know that?"

"Future him. He's wearing a wedding ring."

"Do you think we'll be at their wedding?"

"We'd better be. Any chance to see the Doctor's dancing is worth it."

"Don't worry, Pond," the Doctor says, as he walks in front of them. "You'll both be there."

"Good," she says as she grins at him. Rory gives him an encouraging smile.

The Doctor takes a deep breath. "You deserve to hear this story. Everything I say stays in this room. You do not tell Rose and whatever you do, you do not tell me. Rose needs to be the one to tell me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Rory laughs.

"This is going to be a long story, but like most stories I am going to start at the beginning. Unlike most stories, I am going to end with the future which is exactly why you cannot say anything outside this room." The two humans nod again. "I met Rose Tyler in London in 2005. She was 19 and I had big ears and wore a leather jacket. I was in a shop, I love a good shop, anyway, I was in this shop fighting some autons. Rose worked in the shop and she was the only human in there. I went up to her and told her to run. I then blew up the shop and she helped me save the earth."

"Wait," interrupts Amy. "You just blew up the shop?"

"Yes, Amy. Yes I did."

"Why?"

"I thought it would get rid of the autons."

"Did it work?"

"Well, no. Not exactly."

"Then why-"

Rory warns, "Amy."

"Right. Sorry. Please continue with the story."

"Thank you," he says sarcastically. "Where was I?"

"She helped you save the earth," answers Rory.

The Doctor gives the man a smile. "Thank you, Rory. Rose and I saved the world. I took her home and asked her if she wanted to come with me. She said no and I left. I went out and saved some planets, but nothing seemed right. Because of that I almost died a few times. That was the moment when I decided I really needed her. I realize now that that was the moment I fell for her. So, doing what any crazy Time Lord would do, I went back in time to a few seconds after the TARDIS left and told her the TARDIS also traveled in time. Hands down that is the best pick up line in the universe.

"So Rose and I did the whole exploring thing. I was falling in love quickly, but that version of me was daft and didn't do anything about it. Rose swears she was in love with me back then, too. I brought her home after a few trips to see her mum but instead of a few days later it was an entire year. This led to her mum, Jackie, slapping me. The only woman in the universe to do that, I might add. Three bodies later and I can still feel the sting of her hand. Jackie Tyler, most scary woman in the world. Back to Rose, now. We got that settled and saved the earth again in the same day. We went back to traveling and everything was just brilliant. Sadly, all good things must come to an end.

"We were fighting some Daleks and I knew I was going to die. Being the over protective fool I was, I decided to send Rose back so she wouldn't die. Rose, being Rose, refused to sit around while everything was going on, so she did something no human was ever meant to do. Now, this is important later in the story, so remember it. Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS. The entire time vortex was running through her body. That kind of power made thousands of Time Lords mad…just imagine what it did to a human. Rose, or should I saw Bad Wolf, made her way back to me and single handedly defeated the Daleks." The Doctor starts grinning. "My Rose. She saved my life." The grin vanishes. "But at what cost? Bad Wolf was killing her. So I did what anyone would do. I kissed her. It was our very first kiss and old grumpy ears really, really enjoyed it. The kiss's purpose was to absorb the time vortex from her. It saved her life and ended mine. "

"You couldn't have died. You're standing right in front of us," interrupts Amy.

"Good observation, Pond. I regenerated. When a Time Lord dies every cell in our bodies change and then we live again. Different body but same mind. Moving on, I regenerated and Rose and I went on our way again. She won't admit it, but the new body kind of freaked her out. She wasn't prepared for it and that scared her. Even though I was a new person, I knew I loved her. That is one thing that will never change, no matter what I look like. We went out and saved the universe many times. That version of me really liked cuddling and holding hands, so we did that. We shared a few kisses, but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything else. I guess I just refused to believe that she could even remotely fancy me. Why would she? She deserves much more than I can give her. Love is funny that way.

"Things happened and to make a long story short, I lost my Rose. For the first time. There was a problem with the Daleks and the Cybermen. The parallel universe was open and things were just bad. We opened the void and everything was getting sucked in. Rose was holding on, but slipping. I couldn't reach her and she couldn't hold on. She let go and Pete Tyler for the other universe popped in and popped out, taking Rose with him. The universe cracks were sealed and I couldn't back to her. I looked for any possible way and all I found was a small crack. It wasn't big enough to travel through, but it was big enough to send a message. So, for the first time, Rose and Pete and Jackie traveled to Bad Wolf Bay and I burned up a sun to say good bye. Time was running out, we only had about two minutes. She told me she loved me and I… time ran out before I could say it. She was gone forever, or so I thought. I ended up meeting Donna right after that. She appeared in the TARDIS in her wedding dress. She didn't travel with me 'til later, though. Martha was next and then Donna. Anyway, back to the story. Things weren't going so well in the parallel universe and then things started happening in your world so Rose ended up figuring a way to get back. A bunch of us got together and saved the world. In the process, we ended up the metacrisis, or John as he calls himself. There was no way the two of us could travel together and he only had one heart, so I decided to leave him in the parallel universe. With Rose. That is why this entire thing is all my fault. It was my stupid idea in the first place. Rose didn't want to stay with him. She wanted to be with me. And I wanted to be with her so bad. I missed her so much. But, someone had to look after him. I thought she could be happy with him. They were both human. Things didn't work out like that, though. And that brings up the past. Now is where we get into what I don't know yet. Be warned, this next part isn't pretty.

"Things were okay in the beginning. Rose gave John a chance. John, having all my memories, was already in love. Rose on the other hand, was in love with someone else. Me. At first, John was patient and understanding. But finally, Rose made her decision. John wasn't me. He looked like me and he acted like me, but when she looked into his eyes she just knew he wasn't me. John didn't like that.

"He developed a plan. He was going to kidnap Rose and they were going to live happily ever after, whether she liked it or not. And that's exactly what he did. Everything was ready. Her parents thought they were just going to move in together in the city so they didn't question it. They went to the middle of nowhere and in his mind they were happy. In her mind, she was absolutely miserable. Rose, in case you haven't figured it out yet, doesn't listen to orders. John didn't like that. Whenever she disobeyed he would beat her and cut her. It was never enough to kill her, but it was enough to scar her for the rest of her life. Every night the sick bastard would rape her, just to prove that he could. She tried to run a few times, but it didn't end well for her.

"Rose decided to just do everything he wanted, biding her time until she could get away for good. By then a few years have passed and he lightened up a bit. But then Rose got pregnant. John was happy in the beginning. Rose was just scared. If he could do all of these horrible things to her, the woman he supposedly loved, what would he do to a baby? She never got the chance to find out."

The Doctor took a moment to look at his friends. Amy was crying into Rory and even Rory was blinking back tears. He took a moment to wipe his own eyes.

"She was a few months into her pregnancy when it happened. John was upset about something and he took it out on her. Pushed her down some stairs. She, of course, started bleeding and he just walked away. She lost the baby. He wasn't too happy with her for losing the child, so he decided to make sure she would never again be able to have kids. I'm not going to mention exactly what happened, but it was very painful and there was a lot of blood. Again, he just left her there on the floor. She could have died and it wouldn't have mattered to him.

"Remember what I said earlier? She looked into the heart of the TARDIS? Bad Wolf? Well, it turns out old big ears didn't get all of the vortex out of her. I got most of it, but there was still some there. It was dormant for years just waiting to wake up. This… event… was big enough to wake the vortex and the Bad Wolf was back. There wasn't enough to kill her, but there was enough to change her. It helped heal her by changing every cell in her body. It's kind of complicated, but it was pretty much a half-regeneration, only she ended up somehow being a Time Lady. She stayed with John for a little while longer, before finally escaping. Rose went up to Tyler Mansion and went straight to her mum. Jackie called the police and they went to find him and he just vanished. Turns out that in his spare time he was making a vortex manipulator.

"Rose stayed at the mansion for decades. Every moment of her life was spent in fear. After a few years she realized she wasn't aging. It made her more depressed. She worked with Torchwood for some time but she had to stop. Rose kept hoping something they were investigating was somehow related to me, but instead of me, she got John. He attacked her and kidnapped her again. When Torchwood got to her… she had lost all hope. Jackie ended up putting her on suicide watch for a couple years. Things got better though. She was starting to get happy. Then her mum died. Then her dad died. Her brother is still alive, but he had his own family to care about. She was alone again. And that's how she spent her days. Alone. And then today happened.

"Today wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be easy. It was supposed to be: find her, explosion, find her by the creek then leave and then a happy ending. Instead John beat me in finding her. He took her to a little outbuilding on the property, raped her and then beat her. He left her alone so she decided to throw herself out the window in an attempt to escape. I'm so lucky it wasn't that far from the ground. And that brings us up to the now. The future is actually a lot happier, but I'm not going to tell you much. Don't want any spoilers. Right now past me, your present me is with my Rose, your future Rose hunting down John." He looks down at his watch. "Well, technically we're in the process of killing him. I will be back here in about an hour which means I'll be leaving you guys in about an hour. Spacey wacey and all that. What else do I want to tell you? Well, you already know we'll get married. Though, that one isn't really a surprise. Rose and I at the point in your timelines have already been married dozens of times on various planets. That's about all I can tell you.

"I told you guys this because you two have waited to hear it for way too long. Rose has always been a difficult subject for me to talk about. I never intended for any of this to happen. She just popped up in my life and made her way into my hearts. When she left the first time I was completely devastated. Then she came back and for that brief moment I knew anything was possible. But then she left again and I thought she was going to have the life she deserved. One without danger and with kids and her mum and everything else she deserved. Instead she got this and though I don't yet know it, it was all my fault. When I find out I'm going to be very cross and I never really apologized, so I'm sorry. But even though I told you, you cannot tell them I told you. You cannot act like I told you. I know you won't because I was there, but that doesn't mean you guys can mess that up. Time was already rewritten today. That is enough for this century. Don't forget it's all wibbly wobbly-"

"Spacey wacey. We know, Doctor," the companions say.

Amy, who is all red-faced from crying, goes up and hugs her raggedy Doctor. The Doctor hugs her back as a tear escapes from his eye. He quickly wipes it away. Rory walks over to the hugging friends and declares it his turn to hug the Doctor.

The three friends talk for a while before the Doctor has to leave for his own TARDIS. After he left the Ponds went to check on Rose. On the table next to her sleeping body was a jar of roses.

* * *

_A/N For those of you who made it to the end, I hope all of your questions have been answered. This wasn't the best thing ever, but if you are confused ask and I'll answer. _


	6. Chapter 6

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

Rose and the Doctor are almost back to the TARDIS when they ran into the other Doctor.

"Do I really look like that?" the future Doctor asks Rose. "I'm gorgeous." Rose laughs as she rolls her eyes. He gives his wife a grin before looking at past him. He looks so… so… sad. But he knew he felt a hundred times worse. This day, the day that was never supposed to be, really took its toll and the Doctor didn't know how to help make it any easier for his past self. And that's when he remembers it.

Rose.

He remembers Rose.

His Rose.

And he can't stop grinning.

Rose, ever so observant, notices and takes the chance to tease him. "Are you still grinning at your hair or have you moved on to your shoes?"

"Hair."

"Well, it is nice hair."

"It's just so… smooth." Rose starts to giggle uncontrollably. "Anyway… I'm going to go back to the TARDIS. I'll just put on my fez and-"

"Wait. I thought I hid the fez."

"Yes. And I found it."

Rose sighs dramatically. "You're going to put on the stupid fez and do what?"

"I'm going to put it on and that's all I had planned really."

"You're going to knit something, aren't you?"

The present Doctor gives the older version of himself a questioning glance.

"It's… relaxing! Don't judge me."

"But… it's so… domestic!" the younger Doctor replies.

"So? Don't forget that I am you. One day you will enjoy knitting. Deal with it." Future Doctor looks at the past version of himself and smirks. "In fact, here. Have these." He pulls out the knitting needles he dropped in the hallway and hands them to himself. "Merry Christmas." The past Doctor looks absolutely terrified and the future version laughs.

Rose mutters, "Time Lords," under her breath.

Both Doctors exclaim with "Oi!" making Rose laugh hysterically. Her laugh makes the Doctors laugh, too.

"Well, I'm off then," future Doctor says. "I'll be waiting in the TARDIS." Rose nods as he walks towards her and kisses her forehead. She gives him a hug.

The past Doctor watches them and feels a little better. His older self gives him one quick grin before walking off to his own TARDIS.

Rose.

He needs to find his own Rose.

Future Rose, like usual, knows exactly what he's thinking. "Rose is fine. She's in your TARDIS right now, sleeping in the med bay. She'll be out for a while, but when she wakes up she'll be… okay."

The Doctor looks at Rose. After all this, Rose still loves him. She still wants to be with him. Why? Why does she want to be with a monster? "You should go catch up with your Doctor."

"You're not getting rid of me that fast. We've still got something to talk about."

"I was afraid of that."

"Well, blame yourself for this one. It's all your fault."

"I know!" He gives her a look that just breaks her hearts. "It is all my fault and I am sorry, Rose. I know I will never be able to-"

"Doctor just be quiet!" She gives him a soft, sad smile. "It's your fault that you think it's your fault. It isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. I know you won't believe me now and I know you won't believe me in the future and I definitely know you won't believe me when I go and get in my own TARDIS, but you had nothing to do with this. Don't blame yourself."

"Rose-"

"I am going to be fine and you are going to be fine. You will both be together and that's enough for both of you and you will be happy. Do you know why I'm telling you this?"

"Rose-"

"You're thick! That's why I'm telling you this! I'm never going to stop telling you this, so you may as well start getting used to it. You're stuck with me now, Doctor. Forever."

Rose grins her beautiful grin and she leans forward and kisses his cheek as he wraps his arms around her. She whispers something in his ear and they break apart.

"This isn't goodbye," Rose says. "This is just the beginning. The beginning of our forever."

The Doctor nods and she nods back. Rose leaves to find her own Doctor and TARDIS while the Doctor stands there and watches her. It's just like her to be able to make him feel so much better. He turns and heads for his own TARDIS. He heads for his own Rose.

* * *

Rose was right where Rose said she would be. The Ponds were there, too, sitting by her. They look up when he walks in and give him a small smile. The Doctor gives then a large grin in return as he walks right up to Rose.

"How is she?" he asks quietly.

"She's fine," Rory replies. "You made sure of that."

The Doctor nods. "I know I haven't told you about Rose. She's just… I never… She's Rose."

Amy and Rory just nod. The other Doctor already gave them this speech, but they still understand. The Doctor doesn't deal with emotion well. He's always… reserved. The type of guy who is always talking but never says anything important. When Rose left he was heartbroken. And then later she came back and left and he was heartbroken all over again. And now… this. Now they're both broken.

Amy walks up to her best friend and gives him a hug.

The hug was just what he needed.

"Amy, Rory… thank you."

"You're welcome, Doctor. Any time," Amy replies. Rory just nods. "We'll leave you two alone. Come along, Pond." She grabs her husband's hand and they leave.

The Doctor sits down in a chair, looks at his Rose, and smiles.

Rose.

His Rose.

He finally got his Rose.

* * *

_A/N So… that was… that. I can see this story going one of two ways. Way one involves one or two more chapters and that's it. Way two involves many more chapters as well as bringing back other characters. This is my subtle way of asking what you guys want. Do you want this to continue or do you want this to end and call it good?_


	7. Chapter 7

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

The Doctor ran test after test on his Rose and was glad that everything turned out normal.

Everything except on thing.

She has two hearts.

Two hearts! Rose has two hearts! This isn't possible. But this is Rose. With her, anything is possible.

"Rose, my beautiful, fantastic, wonderful Rose," he says softly to his sleeping love, "what happened to you? How can you be alive?" Someone can't just grow another vital organ! Even if they could, how could they survive? It just doesn't make sense.

"Doctor? What's wrong?" asks Rory who is standing in the doorway looking at the Doctor.

"Rory!" exclaims the Doctor loudly. His eyes grow wide as he quickly glances at the still sleeping Rose. He calms down when he realizes he didn't wake her. "Rory!" he exclaims again, quieter this time.

Rory gives his friend a confused look, complete with one eyebrow raised. "Yes?"

"Two hearts! She has two hearts!"

"Yes…"

"How is that possible?" Rory stares at his shoes in a sad attempt to not make eye contact with his friend. "Rory, what are you not telling me? What am I missing?"

Sheepishly, Rory looks up. "Spoilers."

"Rory!"

"I'm sorry! Don't you think I want to tell you? I hate keeping secrets!"

"Then tell me!"

"I can't." The Doctor gives him a doubtful look, but Rory ignores him. "It isn't my place to tell you. It's hers." Rory was right and both of them knew it. The Doctor looks at his Rose. His Rose that is full of so many mysteries. Rory places his hand on his friend's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

They stand there for a few moments before Rory turns to leave. He makes it to the door before he is stopped by the Doctor's words.

"She knows my name, Rory."

"What?"

"My name. The other Rose whispered it to me before leaving with the other me. She knows my name. Do you know what that means?"

"Yeah. I do."

"She promised me forever. A lot of people promised me forever. If anyone could keep that promise, I knew it would be Rose Tyler." Rory laughs and the Doctor grins. "I'm going to tell her my name as soon as she wakes up. The first thing she hears is going to be my promise for forever."

"Who would have thought you were such a romantic?" Amy asks teasingly as she enters the med bay.

"Amy," warns Rory. She rolls her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Pond," replies the Doctor.

"Oh yes you do," she calmly says.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I-"

The Doctor was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. A hand that belonged to Rose Tyler. With her cheeky grin she asks, "Miss me?"

The Doctor stares at Rose before pulling her into his arms. He whispers his name in her ear and her eyes go wide. "That's your-" She gets cut off by his nodding.

"I hope that's okay," he whispers back.

"I promised you forever."

"Forever."

_A/N That was pretty short. Next week will be better. I promise. I also want to say that I took everything into strong consideration and I decided to just keep going. I have an idea for the end but in the meantime we're all going to be surprised. As of right now I don't have any sort of plan of how long this is going to be or what's going to happen. It's just an adventure. As always, thanks for reading. You're the best. Comment if you want to. They always make my day. -Morgendorffer_


	8. Chapter 8

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

"Rose, are you sure about this?" asks the Doctor. He really doesn't want to be pressuring her to do something she doesn't want to. Rose just glares at him in reply. "You don't want to say goodbye to anyone? Not even Jackie?"

For some reason, Rose isn't ready to tell him that Jackie was gone. She isn't ready to tell him anything. All she is wants to do is to run away, just for a little while, until she is can talk about it. If she'll ever be able to. "I'm ready to go. Parallel universe, remember? We shouldn't be here."

The Doctor pretends to be oblivious to things, but in reality, he always notices. It's better this way, to know but not let on. Rose was hiding something. She probably had her reasons, but he can't live with himself if he tore Rose away from her mother without at least one goodbye. Jackie wouldn't let him live, either. If there was any woman, besides Rose, who could travel through parallel worlds it is Jackie Tyler and she isn't afraid to use her slapping hand. "If she slaps me again, I'm blaming you."

"Don't worry about mum." Rose grins her trademark grin and the Doctor can't help but smile. "I'll protect you."

"Like you did last time?"

"Oi! You deserved it! It was your fault she hadn't seen me in a year."

"I thought it was twelve hours!" Both of them burst into laughter. Once they both calmed down the Doctor admits, "Maybe I did mess things up a bit, but that doesn't mean I deserved to be slapped that hard. I can still feel it." He puts his hand to his cheek for emphasis.

Rose rolls her eyes and then leans forward to kiss his cheek. "Better?"

With his grin now reaching his eyes the Doctor says, "Much." He just looks at Rose, taking in her beauty for a few moments. "There is nothing else you want to do here? Anything?" She just shakes her head. He nods before pressing his lips to hers and then he exits.

Rose sits down in the now empty med bay and just thinks. The infamous moment where her mum slapped the Doctor seemed like yesterday, but it was years ago. So many years ago. Talking about her, joking about that moment, it just felt good. Rose doesn't usually think about things like that. It just feels right. It feels normal.

For the first time in such a long time, Rose feels happy. She has the Doctor, the TARDIS, and two new friends. The life of Rose Tyler was finally good again.

* * *

The TARDIS looks different than before. Not good different. Not bad different. Just different.

Happy to finally be home, Rose explores the new-looking corridors and rooms of the TARDIS. The pool wasn't in the library anymore and everything was rearranged and redesigned, but nothing was really shocking. Everything looks wonderful. But then Rose finds a very familiar pink door.

Her bedroom.

He kept her bedroom.

She opens the door only to find everything exactly how she left it. It was like no time had passed at all.

Rose walks around looking at all of her old stuff as memories of her past travels start to flood her mind. She looks at her pictures of Jack, Mickey and her mum. Photos are weird. All they really are are an echo of a memory that will last forever; just a bit of paper that can hold so much meaning.

Next, she moves on to the rest of the pictures. The pictures of her and the Doctor. She had a few pictures of leather jacket him, but not many. He didn't like being in the pictures, but he often took pictures of her. Pictures she's never seen. The Doctor with the pinstripes though… he really liked pictures. Almost every place they went he would pull out a camera and they'd take a picture together.

She loves those pictures.

"Who is that?" asks Amy. Rose gives her a questioning glance. People can't appear from nowhere. "The door was open." She gives her new friend a laughing grin.

Rose can't help but smile, too. "This is the Doctor," she says as she points to big ears and then to pinstripes.

"He doesn't look like that now," Amy says confused.

"Good observation, Pond," the Doctor says from the doorway. "Regeneration. I'll explain it later." Amy tries to object but he ignores her as he enters the room.

Rose looks at the Doctor and the Doctor just beams back. Oh, it was good to be home.

Amy asks about more of the pictures and Rose tells the story behind them. The Doctor just listens until he has to object to something, which is quite often.

Laughter hangs in the air of the corridor and echoes throughout the TARDIS. Rory follows it until he gets to the source. "Is this what you do now?" he asks his friends. "Hang out in bedrooms without me?" Rose laughs, Amy rolls her eyes and the Doctor nods. "Well, good to know. I'll just go then." He pretends to walk out. A laughing Amy goes to him and they leave.

Rose and the Doctor laugh and they sit on the edge of the bed. The Doctor takes Rose's hand into his. They look at each other smiling before Rose saying, "The TARDIS looks so different."

"Good different or bad different?" he asks in response, mimicking a conversation from their past.

"Just different." She grins. "I like it," she admits which makes the Doctor's grin grow. "Why keep my room though?"

"I guess she didn't want to let you go." He stares into her eyes deeply for a moment. "I didn't want to let you go, either." Before continuing, he takes a deep breath. "I used to come in here, whenever I was lonely and I really, really missed you. I would just-" he pauses not knowing what he's saying. "I don't know. It was you. It was all I had left of you. An echo of what used to be. It still smells like you." He looks at her to make sure she isn't upset by his words and instead finds her laughing. "Why are you laughing?"

"I have no clue." She laughs again. "That was sweet. I just can't believe you just kept it. All of it. After all these years." Again, she laughs. "It's just so pink!" This time the Doctor laughs. "Look at these clothes!" she exclaims as she picks up the nearest article of clothes from the floor. "I can't believe I wore this!"

"You looked great it that!"

Rose looks at him before they both burst into laughter.

* * *

The Ponds are in the console room waiting for the Doctor.

"I knew it! He saved her room," says Rory.

"I never pegged his as a romantic," Amy admits. "It's so cute! Our little Doctor's all grown up!"

"He's not little. He's older than both of us combined."

"Shut up, Stupid Face. Let me have my moment."

Rory tries not to laugh. "He's happy now. That's the important thing."

Amy nods. "And she's happy. That's a good thing."

"Amy," Rory slowly says as he turns to look at his wife, "how do you think River's going to take this?"

"Oh my God, Rory! River!"

"What about River?" the Doctor asks as he enters the console room. He goes to the console to check some screens.

"Nothing," Amy says quickly. "We were just talking about her."

"Oh, that's nice."

Quickly changing the subject, Rory asks, "Where are we going now?" Amy looks at him and smiles her thanks. He nods and smiles back.

"Well, I was thinking we could, I don't know, try for Barcelona. It's a beautiful place that's known for their noseless dogs."

"They have noseless dogs in Barcelona?"

"Of course they do. They're famous for it."

"I've never heard of noseless dogs in Barcelona," Amy responds.

"The planet Barcelona, not the city Barcelona."

"Right, because there is a difference." She glances at her husband and he just shrugs.

"Anyway, I was thinking we could just spend a little time in the void before going anywhere. Just give everyone some time to relax and get more acquainted before, you know, any life or death situations."

"That sounds," Rory voices, "reasonable." Amy just nods.

A knock on the door makes everyone quiet. Everyone turns to look. Another knock occurs.

"We're in flight!" the Doctor exclaims. "How can there be someone at the door?"

"I don't know!"

"What do we do?" asks Amy.

"Well, that's a silly question. We answer it."

They knock again.

Amy looks at Rory, Rory looks at the Doctor and the Doctor looks at Amy.

The Doctor whispers, "Geronimo," before walking over to the door. He opens it and the mysterious knocker enters.

At the same time everyone asks, "River?"


	9. Chapter 9

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

"River?"

"Hello Sweetie," River says as she greets the Doctor. "Mummy. Daddy." Amy, Rory and the Doctor can't help but stare at her. The Ponds are worried about how their daughter is going to handle Rose but the Doctor is focusing more on how River can be there. "What? Why is everyone staring at me like that?"

"River," the Doctor starts, "how are you here? Better yet, why are you here?"

Pretending to sound offended, she asks, "You're not happy to see me?"

"I'm always happy to see you," he sighs, "but how can you be here? People can't just knock on the door. Not when we're in orbit."

"It's not my fault no one's ever tried before." Rory and Amy laugh softly from their little corner. "I used a vortex manipulator to get to the TARDIS. It couldn't transport me inside, so it brought me to the next best thing- right outside it. The air shield is up. Nothing bad could have happened."

"Why are you looking for me? What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"

"Me? Trouble? Never!" River grins as her parents and the Doctor laugh. "I have a… friend… who needs a bit of help."

"That's what I am now? Just a bit of help?"

"Doctor!" an offended Amy exclaims.

"I was joking!" Amy rolls her eyes, making Rory and River laugh. "Who is your friend? Anyone I know?"

"Spoilers," River whispers.

"When and where?"

"Spoilers."

"How am I supposed to go there if you won't tell me?"

"Simple. I'll drive."

"You are not driving my TARDIS!"

"Watch me." River goes over to the console and starts pressing buttons.

The Doctor watches in horror as she starts fiddling with the console. She's actually doing it! She's flying the TARDIS! Worst of all, she's doing everything correctly!

"Amy!" the Doctor whines. "Do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" she asks. "Lock her up in a room? Tie her to the stairs?"

"Yes."

"I am not tying my daughter to the stairs." Rory looks between his wife and his friend and tries not to laugh.

"I don't care what you do, just… do something!"

"Doctor, is she hurting the TARDIS?"

"Well, no."

"Is she doing something wrong?"

"No. But-"

"She's just hurting your pride?"

The Doctor blushes. "No."

"He's just upset that I can fly her better," River adds.

"You cannot!" the Doctor says defensively.

"She can to and you know it," agrees a grinning Rose leaning on the doorway. The Ponds freeze in place. The Doctor looks between them, Rose and then River. Oh, this isn't going to be good.

River looks around in confusion before walking over to Rose. "Hello, Rose."

"Hello, River."

The Ponds and the Doctor prepare themselves for the fight that is about to come. But instead of a fight, they got a hug.

River and Rose hugged.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" asks Rose.

Amy admits, "We… we were sort of expecting a fight."

"A fight?" laughs River. "Why would Rose and I fight?"

"Because you and I… we…you know… and then…" the Doctor tries to say.

"What are you talking about?"

"They just rescued me from the parallel universe," Rose answers. "They thought you would kill me or something." She laughs and so does River. Everyone continues to stare at them in confusion.

"Did you really think I'd start a fight over him?" River asks while pointing at the Doctor.

"Oi!" exclaims a very offended Doctor. "I am a catch."

"Yes," agrees Rose. "You are a catch." The Doctor grins.

Looking at her parents, River Song asks, "What kind of a woman do you think I am?"

Amy and Rory look at each other not knowing what to say. The best they could come up with is, "Sorry."

"Rose, how do you know River?" the Doctor asks.

"Oh, I don't," she replies. "First time I've met her." Everyone turns to look at her as she pulls a letter from her pocket. "Future me wrote me a letter about our best friend River. Future you must have slipped it into my pocket back in the med bay."

"If you knew about Rose, then why didn't you say anything?" Rory asks.

River, Amy, Rose and the Doctor look at him and say, "Spoilers," at the same time.

"Oh. Right."

"If you two are best friends, then why have you been flirting with the Doctor?" questions Amy.

"For fun," River answers. "Didn't want him to get rusty."

The Ponds laugh as the Doctor blushes. Rose laughs as she goes over to him and takes his hand. River gives her a wink before going back to the console and pushes more buttons. Amy and Rory talk to themselves quietly in their corner as the Doctor looks between River and Rose some more.

"Is there a problem, Doctor?" asks Rose.

"No!" he exclaims. "It's just… weird… that's all." Rose glances at him in disbelief. "It's a good weird." She smiles and laughs softly as he grins back at her.

The TARDIS lands without making any sound. "We're here," River announces.

"How can we be there? She didn't make the sound!" the Doctor argues.

"What sound?"

"You know… the TARDIS sound!"

"You're being rude," Rose points out. He ignores her.

River goes to the door and opens it, revealing they have in fact landed. "It only makes that sound because you leave the brakes on."

"I love that sound! It's a brilliant sound!"

"We can argue or we can go."

"Fine!" The Doctor goes past River and walks out the door. River looks at her parents and best friend.

Rory, feeling the need to defend the Doctor, adds, "He's gone through a lot in the last few days." He goes to join his friend. The girls look at each other, laugh, and then exit.

The friends find themselves in a somewhat familiar time and place.

"Cardiff? Why are we in Cardiff?"


	10. Chapter 10

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*

"Everyone back in the TARDIS," the Doctor angrily demands. His eyes darken and he frowns, but everyone is too focused on his words to notice the sudden change. Everyone except Rose Tyler.

Rory and Amy glance at each other in confusion. Why would they leave? They just got here! Amy remarks, "Doctor, you can't be serious. We just got here!"

"Serious? I'm always serious," he replies as he fixes his bowtie. "Serious is my middle name."

"Why do you want to run away? What's so wrong with Cardiff?"

The Doctor ignores his Scottish friend and looks directly at River. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demands. She of all people would understand why he couldn't get involved. Not in this.

"I didn't tell you because I knew this is how you'd react!" River states calmly. "He's your friend and he needs your help. The human race needs you. You can't just walk away!"

The Doctor runs his hand through his hair. She was right. River is always right. But it's wrong! He's… wrong! He's a fixed point in time. Just being near him… and Rose! How is Rose going to-

Amy, Rory, Rose and River watch the Doctor as he paces back and forth, lost in thought. Something was wrong and nobody but River knew exactly what.

Rose walks over to her Doctor, puts her hand on his shoulder and says his name. He immediately snaps out of it. "What is going on?"

"Rose," he sighs while looking into her brown eyes, "there is-"

"Jack?" she asks in disbelief as she sees her long lost friend running towards her.

Jack picks her up in a hug and twirls her around. "Rosie!" he exclaims with a grin on his face. He puts her down. "How did you get out of the parallel universe?"

Something was wrong with Jack and Rose could feel it. He was all… wrong. He… felt wrong and she suddenly knew why. Instead of answering his question, she whispers, "Did I… Did I do this to you?" Jack freezes. "Jack, I am sorry. I am so, so sorry. I-" Tears escape from her eyes. How could she have known she would have brought him back forever? He is the man who can never die and it is all her fault.

"Rosie," Jack says softly. "It's fine. I'm fine. Please, stop crying. It isn't your-"

"What if I can change it, Jack?" Her eyes begin to glow gold. "What if I-"

The Doctor throws himself in-between the two. "Rose, no! You can't do this!"

"I can do anything, my Doctor. He is wrong. Let me make him right."

"Rose, listen to me. You can't change him. He is a fixed point. You will ruin the universe."

With her eyes ablaze in golden light, she says the one thing the Doctor feared most. "I don't care."

"Of course you care! If you didn't care you wouldn't try to change Jack back. But the Rose Tyler I know would understand why she couldn't. This isn't you, Rose!"

"I-"

"Bad Wolf is not who you are. It might be a part of you, but you, Rose, you're stronger than her. Fight it!"

"I am-" She looks into the Doctor's green eyes. They were full of despair and hope and love. The Doctor was right. Somewhere deep inside her was Rose and she was fighting for control. "I am-" She takes a glance at Jack. It was her fault that he was doomed to die again and again forever and the Bad Wolf wouldn't let it go. He is wrong. He needs to be fixed.

Rose has to stop herself. With every ounce of power she has, she fights the Bad Wolf.

Amy, Rory, River and Jack watch in alarm as Rose's body starts to shake and her eyes glow brighter and brighter. The Doctor is next to her trying to do something- anything- but there isn't anything he can do. He can't lose her. Not now. Not after just getting her back. Not after everything they'd been through.

All of a sudden everything stops. Her eyes return to normal and her body stops shaking. Relief flows through the Doctor and his friends. It was over. Bad Wolf was gone.

Rose's eyes close and she starts to fall backward. She is caught by a Time Lord.

* * *

When Rose wakes up, she finds herself in an unknown place. She looks around the somewhat messy room.

Torchwood. She's inside Torchwood.

Why? Rose tries to remember what happened but it's all blank. All she can think of is Jack and how wrong he felt. That can't be right. How could Jack be wrong?

"Here," River Song tells Rose as she sits down beside her and hands her a cup of tea. "It's just how you like it."

"River what happened?" she asks her best friend before taking a sip of her tea. "Why are we in Torchwood?"

"Do don't remember anything?" Rose shakes her head and River sighs. "You saw Jack and… well… Bad Wolf appeared, Sweetie."

Panic enters Rose's body. "I didn't do anything, did I?"

River shakes her head and Rose begins to relax. "The first time you were Bad Wolf, you brought him back to life. Not that one time, but forever. He became a fixed point in time and your Time Lord senses, well, sensed that. You wanted to change him back."

"That would destroy the universe!"

"Yes. It's a good thing you didn't go through with it."

"Nothing can stop Bad Wolf. How did you-"

River grins at her friend. "That's a question for the Doctor."

"Why are we in Torchwood?"

River's grin disappears. "You'll see."

* * *

The two girls found their friends walking into Torchwood's cell block. Jack mutters, "Brace yourselves," as he opens the door. The group walks past cells full of aliens Jack called "Weevils" and other creatures, but those were nothing when compared to what they came to see.

Torchwood has a Dalek chained and in a cell.

* * *

A/N: Jack is back. I kept my promise. Yay. That's the good news. The bad news… I may not be able to update as often as I have been. I hate to even think I won't, but I need to be realistic. May and June are two incredibly busy months for any involved high school student and I'm not sure if I'll have the time every week to write. I'm going to try my hardest, but if I don't… I don't. I apologize in advance.


	11. Chapter 11

*Standard Disclaimer Applies*  
Everyone froze in horror.  
How could there be a Dalek here and how can it be chained to a wall? How is it possible? Rose Tyler had questions but she couldn't find her voice to ask them.  
The Doctor glares at the Dalek and then at Jack. "How many more are out there?" he demands.  
"We don't know," replies the Captain. "We were lucky enough to get that one."  
"Lucky? Lucky?! The only "lucky" thing about you is that you can't die. Need I remind you about the year that never was?"  
"That isn't something I would forget, Doctor."  
"No, of course not."  
The two men take the time to stare each other down. The Doctor then takes a chance to glance at the Ponds. They're staring back at him in confusion and terror. Next, he moves on to River Song who is glaring at him, clearly on Jack's side of the argument. Finally, he looks at his Rose. She's frowning back at him. Deep down the Doctor knows how she feels about the way he treats Jack, but he can't help himself. Not when Captain Jack Harkness, the fixed point in time, does something this stupid. And he called himself lucky! Does he know how many people he could have jeopardized by having that Dalek here? Not everyone comes back to life! And does he realize how much danger he's put the world in by having a Dalek here in Torchwood? What if it gets out? Then what? The Dalek could get countless amounts of alien technology and research? It gathers weapons to use on the universe? But that's probably the plan. You can't just catch a Dalek, not if it doesn't want to be caught. This one either had a master plan or a suicide wish. But looking at Rose… the frown on her face and the sadness in her eyes… the Doctor couldn't keep yelling at Jack. The Doctor, once again, looks at Jack and notices the fear in his eyes. His friends are all scared and instead of solving the situation he's acting like a frightened child.  
For the first time in a long, long time, that's exactly what he feels like. A frightened child. The Doctor buries that feeling, lifts his head high and asks softly, "What exactly is going on?  
Even though Captain Jack doesn't know much about the Doctor's new form, he notices the change in his friend. He's glad to have him back. "Bodies were found in the middle of the city. There were no marks whatsoever but the autopsies found missing organs. Primarily the brain and heart. We were called in and did our job. Nothing was out of the ordinary, besides the missing organs. And then it happened again and again and again."  
Rose is listening intently to Jack's explanation. Her brain is teeming with of all kinds of theories and possibilities. Her eyes flash gold for a brief moment, sending a message and a warning to anyone willing to listen.  
Bad Wolf is willing and waiting to help.  
No one noticed the warning.  
Jack continued on with his tale. "Ianto and Tosh figured out a pattern between the crime scenes and we were able to predict where and when the next one would occur. The team and I staked it out and found this little guy," he points to the Dalek in the cell, "teleporting his next victims to their base. We shot him with these bad boys," Jack holds up two oversized laser guns. "Made them myself in case the Daleks ever decided to try to take over the world again. Based them off the guns from the parallel universe's Torchwood team."  
Rory, Amy and River look over at Rose when the topic of the parallel universe popped up. Ignoring their stare, Rose continues to look towards Jack and the Doctor.  
"Carefully, the team and I brought the Dalek here and chained it up. The effect of the gun is still working. It hasn't moved, talked or done anything since it was brought here."  
"How long have you had it?" the Doctor asks.  
"A few days."  
"And there haven't been any more bodies found since then?"  
"No."  
"And you don't know how many Daleks there are?"  
"No."  
The Doctor becomes lost in thought and starts pacing along the corridor. The Ponds look at each other in horror and River starts to confront them. Jack walks over to the front of the cell and wonders if he did the right thing. Maybe he should have just destroyed it while he had the chance? He thought he could torture it to get information or at least figure out what they were doing with the humans they've been taking. Why they've been killing them. He was trying to do the right thing, but in the end, did he make the right choice?  
Rose was watching her friend closely. After all these years he hasn't changed much. He might flirt with anything with a pulse and make anything sound dirty, but when it came to duty and saving the world, there was nothing Captain Jack Harkness wouldn't do or try to do to save the day. Rose Tyler walks over to her friend and places her hand on his shoulder. Captain Jack gives his old friend his trademark grin and a giant hug. "I've missed you so much, Rosie!"  
Laughing softly, Rose responds, "And I've missed you Captain. You don't look a day over seventy-five."  
Why did she always know the right thing to say? Only Rose Tyler can make someone so full of self-doubt feel so free. "Neither do you."  
Rose stopped laughing and is upset about something but then hides it with a soft smile. "You did the right thing, Jack. With the sonic screwdriver I'm sure we can find where the Daleks are hiding."  
"What if the Doctor's right? You know as well as I do that he thought it was horrible to bring it here."  
"When it comes to Daleks, the Doctor doesn't always think logically. He's tried to commit genocide before." Rose stiffens a bit. "Even… John… tried to commit Dalek genocide."  
"John?"  
She ignores the question, which raises Jack's suspicions. "My point is, the Doctor sometimes doesn't see the bigger picture. And that's why he has companions. To help him see what he's missing. To hold him back from doing something he'll regret. To make sure he always gives a second chance, even when he's dealing with something as horrifying as a Dalek."  
Feeling better about his choices, Jack gives his friend a genuine Harkness smile. He opens his mouth to say something, but quickly shuts it. Rose was going to ask what was wrong but that's when she saw it.  
It was the Dalek.  
It moved.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this was a little late. But on the bright side, this story has reached 100+ followers! That may not seem like a lot to some people, but it means so much to me. Thank you guys for being amazing readers. I want to do something special, but I have no clue as to what would be special enough. Thank you guys! You are the best!


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